Welcome to the Frontline stays board. Introduce yourself here.

[Katrina143]

Hi, I'm Kat on the Frontline stays team. We created this group so that you and other hosts offering stays for COVID-19 first responders have a dedicated space to meet and support each other, and connect with our team. We hope you can use this group to connect with other hosts in your area, share tips and advice for hosting first responders in these unique circumstances, and ask questions. If you haven’t already, please check out our Frontline stays FAQs. 

To start, let’s get to know each other! If you’d like, please introduce yourself - you can include where you’re from, how long you’ve been hosting, and why you decided to open your listing up to first responders. 

Thank you for being here, the frontline stays program would not exist without you. 

Kat

As always, please remember to keep the Community Center Guidelines in mind when you interact in this group.

[Louise0]

Why are you offering a discount to medical personnel?  Like Oz, the only real impact on the hospitals in NZ has been a lack of activity.  I know quite a few medical personnel down here in Sydney, and there's not really all that much for them to do.  Their biggest stressor is boredom and not pulling any extra shifts 😞

[Louise0]

I'm hosting in Sydney, Australia.  My place is in Greenwich which is in the heart of the 'medical district'.  Our area has the highest number of medical specialists per capita of any area in the country.  There are 4 hospitals in a 4 kilometre radius.  Having said that, I've had no requests from front line workers. 

This isn't surprising as the impact of Covid-19 on the hospitals in Oz has been minimal and there's been a massive reduction in ordinary admissions.  Beds, operating theatres, emergency departments and ICU's are pretty much empty and hospitals are standing down staff. To be precise, as of yesterday, in the entire country, there are only 109 requiring hospital care for Covid-19.  Of these 109, only 42 are in ICU, filling a few of the 2,378 ICU beds scattered over the 191 ICU's in the country.  

So, my question is, given that there's no need for special treatment for front line workers, why should I offer them a significant discount?  There the lucky ones down here; at least they've still got jobs.  

[Katrina-and-Patrick0]

well done for saying this -
I am in the UK and getting a bit fed up of the overkill wave of "Our hero nurses and doctors deserve ALL the praise and bonuses! "
when the social workers, care home staff, and rubbish collectors get my thanks just as much. - but their job is actually easier with the almost total absence of traffic trying to run them over...
I was prepared to offer a discount rate - but don't think I will do now, nor will there be any demand from hereon in  - it appears the peak of the virus is fading at pretty much the same rate in countries across the globe...
be shocking to discover it was a wave that had almost nothing to do with the lock down levels wouldn't it! 

My income stream on the other hand has been hit hard and I am lucky to have savings I can use to tide us over. Whatever it takes to enable guests to safely come and stay again, I will be all for it.

[Louise7]

Agree with both of the 2 statements from Sydney and Minchinhampton UK

     Over kill is the name of the game right now. A little reality is what is needed, rather than a mass hysteria, encouraged by politicians and media.

    I signed up for voluntary work  to assist with any  local needs, along with assisting with cheap rental for emergency workers. NO response from anyone, obviously NOT needed.

    So sorry that everyone throughout the world has to suffer, with the draconian laws being introduced.  So very many people are going to have to pay a very high price, It saddens me and also many of you. Keep hope all of you, Hugs from Louise

[Louise0]

Yes @Katrina-and-Patrick0  if you think it looks like a bit of pisstake in the UK, you can imagine how we feel downunder.  There's a definite wave of negative sentiment building against frontline so-called 'heroes' who are all snuggly employed whilst being showered in treats from local businesses and (through no fault of their own) having sweet FA to do at work.  

As of 1 May we have just 83 people hospitalised with COVID-19 in the entire country.  Of these 28 are in ICU, which means a tiny 1.2% of all ICU beds in the country are occupied by patients who have tested positive to COVID-19. 

It would seem that the biggest threat to ICU staff down here is dying of boredom.

[Basil1]

Hey All

I am Basil, have property in Thekkady, Kerala. Running a property management company in Kerala called HUBLOFT.

Kerala is been badly affected with 2 flood from the last 2 years and now with the corona virus 😞

Hosting from 2015 and super-host for the last 3 years. I worked for Airbnb in India for 2 years and then started Hubloft with the idea of home-sharing economy. 

As a part of this community, I am happy to open up my home to Covid-19  responders. The reason behind to open up my home is simple: at this crucial time we need to help them.

This period will pass soon and we will overcome this strongly. @Katrina143 

[Katrina143]

Glad to have you here, @Basil1 .

[Margaret609]

Hi, I'm Margaret from Northern California. I traveled with ABnB for a number of years and when we decided to do some work on our rental, didn't want to inconvenience a long term rental for the on again-off again of remodeling. I just started hosting last June and have had a blast! My city has annoying limitations on non-hosted (only 60 days per year STR), but I've been able to get three longer term stays which have been very rewarding since you get to know guests better, even if only via messaging.

Like many, when my regular reservations cancelled I wanted to help out the first  line responders. I set up a 90% discount but when I chose open homes it automatically made it free (I just wanted to collect enough to help pay my cleaners, esp since more work to do). It was just pretty confusing. Also, I had to turn off Open Homes when I got 7 requests in about 10 minutes. My rental is near one hospital , El Camino, that I really wanted to support (8 min away), but I was swamped with requests for Stanford. Several of those dropped out when Stanford started providing housing (hotels then dorms). I have a current request from someone working in SF but commuting from almost 2 hrs away. My place is closer by an hour, but I've been disappointed she has not been able to find something closer. I can't imagine the long hours they put in and the stresses only to commute daily for 2-4 hours.  So- if anyone on this  has room close/in San Francisco for next week, please let me know. I'd love to see one of us make her life a little bit easier if possible.

[Katrina143]

Thanks for your honest feedback, and I'm sorry for your frustrating experience using the platform @Margaret609, our team is working on making the sign-up process clearer for hosts, so we appreciate hearing from you.

[Adel1215]

Hi, I am Adel from Morocco, Rabat, and I have not received any request so far. It started from March 2020, I host from 2014, and I would like to be part of this community. I hope that we will be eligible for relief. Thank you.

[Jenny1069]

Hi Folks...

I'm Jenny from Southern California. I Live near two hospitals in Orange County but we aren't hit too bad over here. It's more Los Angeles county that is suffering from this horrible virus. Looking forward to our travel bans being lifted so we can return to action. If any healthcare providers were to need my home I am more than happy to host them. I have contracted a hospital grade disinfectant company to do my cleaning and mounted hand sanitizer's all throughout the house. I'm ready to battle this out in a safe way for everybody! 🙂 Stay Safe out there and God Bless! 

[Kristian13]

Hi All, I'm a host in Brooklyn and we've been able to host travel nurses over the past month.  The pandemic is still a huge problem here and we're starting to get cancellations for June and July.

[Katrina143]

@Kristian13 Thanks for joining the group, would you be willing to share a little more about your experience hosting travel nurses? 

[Kristian13]

Sure! @Katrina143  We have two medical professionals in separate units in Brooklyn.  One is from NOLA and the other is from CA.  They both have been on the frontlines and one is at a hospital 4 blocks away.  She has been very appreciative bc she needed to get in rotations bc her other hospital wasn’t allowing people (grad students) like her to work.  So this has been a win-win for everyone. 

The other is a travel nurse working in Queens.  After being with us for two weeks she is moving to a hotel because the hospital is covering her stay there. She says she will come back but it will hurt our earnings.  

That said, I think there are other medical professionals still arriving so I’m hopeful we can book out the rest of the month. 

[Donna320]

Hello everyone, so lovely to have distant contact with other hosts from around the ' lock down' world. We have a farm stay on our property located 10 ks out of Mount Barker Western Australia and have had no bookings at all due to the Australian travel bans. Australia has all our state and International borders closed too. Also we are not allowed to go outside our area of which we live.

This is proving to be a positive outcome for Australians. 

Lets hope and pray this dreadful horrible virus dies out quickly so our lives can return to 'normal'

Stay Safe

Warm regards

Donna